Politics and Culture

Have you ever been at an event, in a class or attended a conference where almost everyone was the same race, ethnicity, gender etc. except for one person? Has that ever been you or have you wondered what it was like for that person? Have you seen been at an event where someone was excluded because of the color of their skin, seen or heard someone be targeted by racism or ignored and wanted to intervene but didn’t know what to do?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, or if you care about making people feel included then you need to listen to this episode.

Being the only person who looks like you in a group of people can be uncomfortable, awkward and impede participation. Author, speaker and podcaster Laura Cathcart-Robbins recounts her experiences as the only Black person in the room at a writer’s conference of 450, in classrooms and other events in her life which inspired her to produce her podcast, “The Only One in the Room.”

In this conversation on race, you’ll get to hear how Laura’s mother gave her the tools she needed to excel despite being excluded, stand up for herself and speak out and be heard as a Black woman. You’ll learn what you can do to support diversity in the room and actively support inclusion. Plus you’ll hear what songs Laura and Simma are listening to this week that reflects their thoughts and feelings on race, racism and eliminating fear of differences.

Help us stop hate and spread the message of love across the globe by sharing this podcast.

Laura Cathcart Robbins is a freelance writer, podcast host, and storyteller, living in Studio City, California with her son, Justin and her boyfriend, Scott Slaughter. She has been active for many years as a speaker and school trustee and is credited for creating The Buckley School’s nationally recognized committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Her recent articles in the Huffington Post on the subjects of race, recovery, and divorce have garnered her worldwide acclaim. She is a 2018 LA Moth StorySlam winner and host of the popular podcast, The Only One In The Room, which is available on all podcast platforms. Laura currently sits on the advisory board for the San Diego Writer’s Festival and is also a founding member of Moving Forewords, the first national memoirist collective of its kind. You can find her on Facebook @lauracathcartrobbins, on Instagram @official_cathcartrobbins and follow her on Twitter @LauraCRobbins.

These questions and more are answered on Every Day Conversations on Race. My guests are Mary-Lou Milabu, a millennial black Christian woman, whose family is from Congo, and Sara Bierman a millennial white Jewish woman from California who is also a lesbian. Both women share their experience and views on race, racism and perspectives on white privilege.

Mary-Lou shares what it was like to be one of the few Black people in her school and constantly being asked to be the spokesperson for African-Americans. While learning about Black history, a white teacher kept asking her about her family’s history going back to slavery. When Mary-Lou said that was not her family’s history since she was second generation Congolese the teacher kept insisting. She had to school the teacher.

Sara shares what it was like for her growing up on a street where she was the only white kid and learning about racism towards people of color. She shares stories of talking to other white people about race and racism.

This exciting conversation on race with two millennial women, one white and one black will open your eyes to stereotypes, white privilege and racism.

Joel Brown talks about the need to allow people to grow, and the problems that arise when they are not given a chance to change. Racism doesn’t get eliminated by attacking people who want to stop racism but may say the wrong thing. That’s different than someone who is a racist, supports racism and takes actions to perpetuate racism.

Everyone is going to make mistakes. What is the point of having conversations if we can’t do that? Joel says it’s making him tired. While some of these issues are valid, they don’t call for canceling people out. We need to be savvier.

When do we allow benevolence to be a good thing? When the billionaire keynote speaker at Morehouse said he would pay off everyone’s school loans, someone asked on social media “why didn’t they do that for Spelman?”
People are angry, not being heard, and want to be heard. Other people are cosigning because they don’t want the other person to be in pain.

There is a hypersensitivity to issues that have not been addressed. At the same time, there needs to be room for conversation.
The USA has not dealt with its history of racism and slavery. We need to figure it out, or nothing will change. By calling out every single thing someone says, and putting so much energy in shutting people down, we end up not dealing with systemic racism.
It’s easier to deflect from our own issues by making someone else “the enemy” when they are on our side. If we want to eliminate racism, we need more dialogue, conversation and education.

Conversations on race can only happen when people are open to listening, learning and talking.
If we want change, we have to look at manifestations of racism. Ex. At a high school white kids had “thug day,” and dressed up as their stereotype of Black rappers. The white woman who exposed it was getting death threats. More attention needs to be on those issues and why this is going on.

Different issues need to have different consequences. We need to address how egregious is it? What were the intentions? How willing is the person to listen, learn and change?

Joel also says that it’s essential for people of color to learn about each other, that Black people need to learn about Asian people, Asian people need to learn about LatinX people, etc. Just because people consider themselves a person of color doesn’t mean they understand or have any contact with people from other groups and may have biases about other groups.

There is too much conversation and too many people saying that Democratic candidates for president are not “gay enough” “Black enough” or made a comment 20 years ago. If we want to defeat Trump, we will need to get behind whoever is running. Change and progress don’t happen under repression. Racism, loss of rights, gender inequality only gets worse. Hate crimes go up.

People can create change under a liberal government. It’s up to the people to take power together. Even under Obama, changes like gay marriage happened as a result of people putting pressure.

Increase in tribalism makes it easier for people to be co-opted, particularly white people who are alienated, many of whom are being targeted and recruited by white supremacists.

Solutions
Look at ourselves
What part do we play, what do we need to change about ourselves?
How do I heal myself?
Hold politicians accountable, even those that look like us
Everyone needs to vote- think of the most vulnerable
Have the conversation
Have more conversations on race, real conversations beyond social media
We need to be in the same spaces and think about things differently
See the “other side.” We need to listen and hear the basis for other people’s thinking
People who are privileged have to look at what part they play and look at imbalance
We all have privilege and power in some level and need to share
Recognize when someone is making a good faith effort and be patient and educate
This is different than someone who is an active racist?

Elmer Dixon was one of the early leaders of the Black Panther Party in Seattle, Washington and in Oakland, CA. In this episode of Every Day Conversations on Race, Elmer talks about the history and legacy of the Black Panther Party.

The Black Panthers were created some of the first Food Banks, were responsible for hot breakfasts for school children that are now provided in many public schools.

Topics in this episode:

The lack of adequate health care for working class and lower income people

How he lives his values today of equity and equality while working with CEOs and other C-suite leaders and making sure that our communities and families survive

The increase in progressive people who are now CEOs who have the well-being of their customers and employee as priorities

Working with Steve Reinemund, former CEO of Pepsico and then his successor Indra Nooyi, as well as other rich people who are looking to give back

The importance of continuing to have conversations on race between white people and people of color different levels

Speaking to young white kids in Finland and around the world who are well-schooled on the history of the Panthers and want to organize against racism

The need to stood up against bullies and how the Black Panther Party stood up to bullies

White elementary school kids are interested in learning more about the Black Panthers and applying it to make the country and world a better place

What it’s like to work with police today and why it’s important to develop good relationships with good cops

The work that Elmer does in training police to understand issues in the Black community, and for police and the community to know each other

If police live in the communities they serve, there will be less police shootings of unarmed people

Throughout the episode Elmer recounts stories of the Panthers and we all can work together to combat racism

Every Day Conversation On Race with guests Svea Vikander and Tramaine de Senna

Svea Vikander, artist, therapist and host of radio show Art Crush brings Tramaine de Senna to the show. As a white woman, raised in Canada and from a Swedish background, Svea look at was she can eliminate hate and stop racism, with a particular interest in using art to do that.

Tramaine de Senna –in conversation on race talks about being African-American, Chinese, Native American and European and ways in which it impacts her art

While a mixture of different backgrounds, Tramaine is also light skinned and sometimes mistaken for White. Not knowing her background there have been times when people have made racist comments about people of color to her, thinking that she would agree with them.

She has been influenced by the work of Adrian Piper who is also mixed-race and uses that in her art.

Tramaine shares how different forms and types of art are a result of history and people expressing their own history and culture in their art.

Other topics include:

Cultural Appropriation in art- what it is and what it isn’t

Cultural Appropriation used as a form of power

How race and being mixed race impacted her in the beginning – she didn’t think she could be an artist because she was mixed race

Do artists have to be poor?

The intersection of race and class

Being a person of color and an expatriate in Belgium

Role of white people in talking about race, not getting defensive, and not making everything

David Campt, dialogue thought leader has created the White Ally Toolkit, for white people who want to end racism.

His family was one of three Black families in his neighborhood in Detroit. He talks about class differences amongst Black people and how it impacted him.

He says “instead of being shocked about racial divisions, we need to start changing that.” Most white people he’s spoken with have very little meaningful interactions with Black people.

In this conversation on race, David calls me on my bias and asks about my awareness and transformation. Listen in if you want to know more.

David offers tips on how to talk about race with people who are different. There are three dimensions to think about when having a conversation on race.

1- Cultural Difference

2- Unconscious bias and the science behind it

3- Impact of history

Some people think unconscious bias exists and history matters. Other people think bias doesn’t exist and history matters.

What are the ways we look at each other, and how do we deal with conscious bias too.

We have to talk to people who don’t agree with us, don’t understand racism and don’t see it as a problem. Only talking to people who agree with us on race and racism doesn’t bring about the change. White people who are conscious have to get to know and talk to other white people who don’t believe that way.

Instead of seeing all white people who voted for Trump as a group, we need to each talk to one person and open their minds.

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About Race Convo

We have a global mission for these conversations, to eliminate fear of differences, bring people together in the same space, and find surprising connections.